Transportation

Credit Where Due: Dan Gilbert's Hustle and Bluffing Helped Bring Waymo to Detroit

April 26, 2019, 4:10 PM

Though one good deed is unlikely to reverse views that some hard-line critics have about Dan Gillbert's overall impact on Detroit, his role in attracting a wireless car plant to this city is a backstage drama worth noting.


This self-driving vehicle manufacturer picks Detroit over Wixom as a factory site.
(Photo: Waymo LLC)

Nolan Finley, a Gilbert admirer, has details in a Detroit News column showing how "rebuilding Detroit doesn't happen easily:"  

Detroit got in the race in January only after Dan Gilbert read a story about Waymo receiving tax credits from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to build a plant in Metro Detroit.

Gilbert sent an email to Waymo CEO John Krafcik, who he had met at the Detroit auto show two years ago, offering help in finding a site in the city. Krafcik told him he was ready to ink a lease for property in Wixom, near where the company had a testing facility.

Gilbert asked him to delay for a week, assuring him he had the perfect spot for Waymo in Detroit. It was a bluff. . . .

Gilbert's Bedrock team scramnbled. . . . And like magic, they stumbled into the ideal building. Before the week was out, they'd convinced the company to look at the site. A deal soon followed, and this week Waymo announced it is bringing a $14-million investment and up to 400 jobs to the city.

Check out the fuller saga, because our summary lacks key twists and turns -- and what Finley calls "the kicker" about what's in it for Bedrock, theoretically.


Read more:  The Detroit News


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